This documentary is a must watch, especially as we live through active colonialization in West Asia.
Apr 6, 2021 "I wanted to push the boundaries of conventional documentary filmmaking and find a freedom to tell this story by any means necessary." Director Raoul Peck sits down to discuss the creative intentions behind documentary series Exterminate All the Brutes.
Man, that ain't nothing. We got streets, towns, rivers, lakes, springs, counties, cities states and buildings, etc. with the names of the indigenous who were slaughtered here. The state of Wisconsin has a whole lot of cities that carry their names. You go there and ain't no indigenous around. We got Chicago, Mississippi, California, Kentucky, Miami, Arizona
When I traveled to Wisconsin with my African Cultural Performing Arts group, I was struck by the many towns and cities that carried the names of the Indigenous. Weyauwega, Waupaca, Menasha, and others I can't recall right now. I remember thinking to myself, what a slap in the face. It's one thing to steal the land, but to keep the name of the land you stole is really audacious. I had no idea until one of the residents explained it to me. I saw not a single Indigenous person during our travels. Not one. It made me wonder what emotion did it bring up, or does it bring up for them. It's such a conundrum. And so many of us who live here simply have no idea. Phoebe Snow sang a song many years ago on a Children's TV program called "Reading Rainbow. The song she sang was called "Ancient Places, Sacred Lands" and to this day, it brings up so many emotions for me when I hear it.
It's sad because most people who live here don't even know where the names came from or what they mean.
ANCIENT PLACES, SACRED LANDS
Come sit beside me
And hear a story
Of Long ago when
The people lived free
Name the waters
And all the places
High and low
There was a plain they
Called Chicago
It meant a place where
Strong things grow
And Kentuky
Meant the land of Green Meadows
Chorus: Ancient Places, Sacred Lands
Names we know so well
But no one understands
Mississippi means “Big River”
And Miami means “Great Water”
Arizona
Means a place where small springs flow
Chorus
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